7 Helpful Ways to Decrease Your Business Expenses

We have a few months until 2018 arrives to successfully create efficiencies in business to help you be prepared for change. As executives and managers meet in boardrooms to finalize strategies, you have an advantage over your colleagues to be the person that delivers useful ideas with our helpful tips.

Decrease Business Debt

The first step to take is to find rewards programs in credit cards you offer employees. Sales managers that travel for work with minimal time in the office can use travel rewards credit cards for purchases and in return gain points.

The points or travel miles points can then be used to purchase food, accommodations and book flights/transportation for future trips. You can make it mandatory that the card must be paid in full before the end of the month to avoid interest fees.

Combine Software to One Central Place

Depending on the size of your business, you might use much software to store customer information, send invoices, communicate with vendors or save information about your products. Now is the time to meet the key players in each department and discuss what their team needs in a software. FreshBooks small business accounting software is one example of an invoicing software that can serve for multiple purposes and potentially reduce costs.

Another example of a well-known software that can eliminate a few programs used in marketing, human resources, and even supply chain is Salesforce.

Take Advantage of Co-Marketing

The power of co-marketing means working with competitors on marketing initiatives as an efficient way to save money and leverage the customer base of a more extensive organization to create awareness of your business. We recommend that you work with a competitor that has similar products and services.

One of the best ways to strengthen a co-marketing relationship is to negotiate a fee for each sale you earn if they add a link to your website in an email marketing campaign or mention they are affiliated with your company in a television commercial. Here are a few more ways to do co-marketing the smart way:

Join a competitor at their company conference and set up a booth showcasing your products and services

Ask to include your low rated product in their e-marketing newsletter

Work with Independent Contractors and Freelancers

The most common business services can be outsourced to local or international workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics stated, “More than 53 million Americans are now earning income from work that’s not a traditional 9-to-5.”

You can hire freelancers or independent contractors for writing services, graphic design, human resource recruitment and business consulting. Imagine having an in-house team for all these needs and the money you can save by working with people that are remote or have their office.

A Flexible Workplace for Employees

The moment you offer telecommuting, remote work or a shift trade program to employees, it can improve worker productivity. Employees desire a sense of appreciation from their employers. Some companies let employees work a half day shift every Friday. In addition to vacation, a health or personal day that is paid is another way to help people that need time to take care of family or study for an exam using the term in one day.

Your Internal Team Can Help

When most companies decide to re-brand or run a marketing campaign, they turn to third-party organizations for help. While this can be helpful, your internal team is the first source of support. Instead of hiring models for print campaigns, run a casting call of employees or use pictures of clients that visit your business location. You can send an email to the entire organization to find people that are photographers, graphic designers, or videographers in their spare time after work.

It can improve employee relations and create a sense of recognition to shed light on team members with additional skills.

Change Your Office Location

If it is not necessary to be in the downtown core, find an inexpensive office to lease in the suburbs. It might not be convenient for some of your employees, but the cost savings in taxes, rent and utilities can be significantly reduced once in an entirely new city or location in your area.